Community resilience during the past 2000 years as inferred from fossil mammals in Yellowstone National Park, WY, USA
Barnosky EH. 1992. Community resilience during the past 2000 years as inferred from fossil mammals in Yellowstone National Park, WY, USA. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America. 73(2):104
Lamar Cave, a late Holocene paleontological site in Yellowstone National Park, has yielded 36 fossil mammal species from 10 stratigraphic units representing 2000 years. The fossil fauna is similar to the local extant fauna, thus providing an opportunity to explore community dynamics through time. Remains of an extralimital species, Microtus ochrogaster, are found only in the oldest cave deposits, dated at 1695 +/- 60 yr B.P. Disappearance of this species by about 1550 years ago marks evolution into the ecosystem that still persists and is recognizable by a fossil mammal assemblage virtually identical to the modem one. Persistence of the fauna through the past 2000 years of climatic fluctuation demonstrates community resilience evidenced by oscillations in relative abundances of small mammals. The identifiable origin and persistence of the mammal community provide evidence that the duration of the Yellowstone National Park ecosystem has been -1550 years, and that the ecosystem has retained structural integrity despite climatic variation and other environmental perturbations.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Barnosky, Elizabeth
- Units
- YELL
- Keywords
- Fossils, Mammals, Paleontology